birddog said:
Hi I'm new to all this lure making i'm not bad at turning the lure I have about 30 of them raedy for painting I sealed them whit shalac but i cant seem to get the rest done properly .from what I see you got it donw preety good.whould you have any advice you could give me?thanks
birddog
Hey birddog, the schelac is ok to seal with if it's an oil based. Water based schelacks will eventually break down and let water into the wood causing the lure to swell so l'd have to advise against using it as a sealer. Even the oil based schelacks will eventually lift from the wood after time or turn yellow and peel. As a sealer l'd suggest using a 40/60 mix of mineral spirits and BLO (Boiled Linseed Oil). Dip your lures into this mix and let them sit for about 20 minutes. After this soaking wipe them down with paper towels and hang them to dry for at least a week. I do have to warn you, BLO has a habit of spontaniously combusting when put on paper towels or rags! l've had it happen twice so after you wipe these lures down put the paper towels into a jar with water. It seems to happen more during the winter when it's really dry and arid so l think these light ups have something to do with static but either way BE CARFUL!
The other alternative for sealing the wood is to heat the plugs in the oven to about 170 degrees F. and then brushing them or dipping them into a 60 min 2 ton epoxy. Devcon is the brand that l find works best. The reason for heating the wood is to open the pores and have the wood suck up as much of the epoxy as possible. After about 10 minutes of your first application wipe the plugs down send some wire thru the holes to clear them out. A coat hanger works really well for this. If you do choose this method make sure you allow at least 72 hours for the epoxy to cure. Even though it says it wil set in 60 minutes the epoxy will still be releasing vapors for some time. Let it cure so you won't have any issues with painting.
When it comes time to paint you're going to need to scuff the lures up a little bit. I use a 220 grit sandpaper or a green brillo scrubby. Only scuff up the surface of the lure. (If the lure is smooth, especially if you sealed with epoxy, the primer will not have anything to grip and just peel on you.) After you scuff it up a little you can start the primer coats. l like to get at least 2 coats of primer onto the lure before painting. As far as paint goes l'm not sure if you have an airbrush or if you're just using rattle cans. (There's absolutely nothing wrong with using rattlecans!) Either way have fun playing around and try to keep the paint as minamal as possible. Heavy build ups of paint will just allow for more layers that might come loose. If you are using rattle cans try to use the same brand of paints. Also stay away from high gloss paints. They will come loose or give you issues when trying to do the final seal coat.
Play around with scale paterns. Try wrapping the lure in and onion or garlic bag and then spraying over it to create scales. Also cut out shapes in tin foil and use it as a template to make nice distinct lines. (ie the darker parts of a perch pattern) Painting is the most fun part of the whole process. You'll basically watch all your hard work come together and really see the rewards of all your efforts. (Another word of advice would be to really let your layers dry before painting again. Spraying paint onto wet paint will cause runs or mixing that will just frustrate you. Take your time!)
For a final coat l like to use a special epoxy called E-tex lite. Enviotex l think is it's real name. You can find it at craft stores or hobbie shops. If you can't find it the Devcon 2 ton epoxy will work well also. (Just make sure when using these two part epoxy's that you mix EXACTLY EQUIL PARTS. If you don't you'l end up ruining the lure and have to scrape all of the epoxy and paint off and start over.) Mix the epoxy up very well and then cover the lure with an acid flux brush or a foam 1 inch brush. After coating the lure blow on any of the bubbles that have formed in the epoxy. The heat in your breath will bring the bubble to the top of the coat and pop them. Both of these epoxies will take about 30-45 minutes to set up so during this time you'll have to stay near the lure and keep flipping it so the epoxy won't settle on one side of the lure.(Approx. every 3-4 min) After it starts to set you'll still have to flip it but only every 10-15 min. After about 2 hours you should be good. I actually have a lure spinner fabricated out of an old BBQ rotisserie motor. I'm doing about 6-7 lures at a time so...
Hope this answers your questions about my process. I'm doing a few lures later next week so l'll try to remember to take pics and do a step by step process for the board.
Esox lucius said:
did yea water test them already, i think the lures look cool. id like to see what would pull out of the water with that
Yup, they've seen water already. Haven't fished the frog at all though. It was a gift for my friends father but I took her out for a swimm and an action check. Beautiful, just beautiful. I've already carved another and painting it next week. The poppers are copies of Don Musso's Supper Strike little neck poppers. I've done these before and they're probably my favorite lure to make and fish with. 25-30lb Striped Bass smashing them in the surf. Nothing like it!!!
FHR
